Loved You First
by red-bell-again
Summary: "It's just not the same as it was back then." She dropped the underwear back to the floor.  "Believe me, I'd noticed," Edward said softly and Bella wasn't sure he'd meant for her to hear.  A/U A/H
1. Chapter 1

Bella stood at the edge of the playground, frenzied children swarming around her, high off their first day of school and proudly waving paintings and macaroni pictures at their eagerly awaiting parents, but she was only looking for one and there she was heading straight towards her…the only person who Bella would ever put her life on hold for, the only person who mattered more than her own life.

"Momma!" The little girl yelled dropping her teachers hand and breaking into the fastest sprint her little legs could manage. Her long, auburn hair, that Bella was sure had been tied up in a yellow ribbon this morning, was flying out behind her and her green eyes sparkled like emeralds.

Bella's face broke into a wide smile, her heart growing more than she ever thought possible and she bent at the waist with her arms spread wide to catch her daughter.

"Oh, my baby," Bella squeezed her to her body, burying her face in her daughters hair "I missed you so much!"

The little girl giggled, "I missed you too momma but, look!" She waved a large sheet of pink paper, which Bella hadn't noticed before "I drew you a picture!"

Bella took the picture, glancing at the crudely drawn stick figures that adorned the page "Well now this is beautiful, Darcy! I think this may be my most favourite picture ever."

"Ever?" Darcy's eyes lit up even more and Bella nodded enthusiastically "Ever."

She pointed at the smallest figure with bright orange, scribble hair "I know this is you, and this one must be me,"

Darcy grinned and nodded as her mother pointed out the stick person with a large swirl of brown hair and two large, off centre brown dot eyes.

"But who's this?" Bella motioned to the last person, stuck at the edge of the page and drawn completely in black.

"That's daddy."

Bella couldn't help the pit that formed in her stomach at her daughters words, her throat drying out instantly.

Darcy had drawn him, the father she didn't know…who didn't know her.

She coughed to clear the sting that was filling her chest and stood rolling the picture up carefully, forcing a smile as she gently grasped Darcy's hand and led her to the car, strapping her safely into her car seat.

Her eyes kept finding the innocent face of her daughter in the rear view mirror, as she hummed along to an imaginary tune.

"Darcy?" Bella asked as she pulled up to a stop sign.

"Yes, momma?"

Bella swallowed, unsure of how to approach her daughter "Why did you draw daddy today?"

Darcy gazed into her lap, a blush that was oh so familiar to Bella spreading through her cheeks "Well Mister Jasper told us to draw a picture of our family, but when I finished drawing me and you, Katie said…Katie said,"

"What did Katie say, sweetie?" Bella prompted.

"She said that my picture was wrong, because it didn't have a daddy and everyone has a daddy…So I drawed one, but I didn't know what he looks like." She sniffed still staring at her lap.

Bella pulled into the driveway of there small house and hurriedly unclipped her seatbelt, running round to her daughter's door.

"Oh baby!" She smoothed a hand over her hair, her heart breaking a little at the sight of Darcy's tears "Please don't be upset?"

She scooped her into her arms and carried her into the house and into the kitchen, sitting her on the counter top next to the sink.

"I never want you to be sad," Bella smiled grabbing a clean cloth and dabbing the tears from Darcy's rosy cheeks "I only want you to be happy…what can I do to make you happy?"

Darcy shrugged and sniffed again, and Bella frowned "Would you like me to show you something special?"

The little girl nodded meekly, cuffing her runny nose "Well go and watch your cartoons for a minute while momma finds it okay? I'll be right back."

Bella lifted her down and watched her run into the front room, listening as she switched the T.V on.

She walked into the small hallway at the back of the house, opening the closet door and kneeling in front of, a breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding escaping as he began pulling out shoe boxes, lifting the lids to glance inside before discarding them at her side.

At last she found the box she was looking for, pushing the rest unceremoniously back into the dusty confines of the closet floor and carrying it back to where her daughter was waiting, the tears seemingly forgotten as she giggled at the screen.

"Are you ready for me to show you?" She asked as she slipped onto the sofa next to her. Darcy nodded and scooted closer into her side, her head resting on Bella's bicep.

Bella opened the box, and placed the lid on the small coffee table in front of her, her arm wrapping around her daughters shoulder and using her free hand to grab a stack of photographs.

She sifted through them until she found the set she was looking for, "That's you!" Darcy pointed at a teenaged Bella, no more than sixteen and dressed in a faded pair of jeans and an equally pitiful plaid shirt that was to big for her.

Bella smiled and moved it to the back of the pile, "Who's that?"

She smiled at the image before her, a large, well built oaf of a boy caught in a head lock by a slim blonde, both grinning unreservedly into the camera "That's Emmet and his special friend Rosalie, they were my friends at school."

"She's pretty," Darcy stated "like Princess Aurora."

"Yeah she is," Bella continued to flick through the photos, stopping every now and then to answer a question and point people out.

Her heart leapt a little as she neared the end of the pile, finding herself staring at the dark haired woman, with an impish grin that glared happily back at her "Who's she?"

"That's Alice," Bella rested her cheek against her daughters head, letting her finger play over the image of her and Alice, Bella's hands thrown up in protest as Alice tied the bottom of her shirt into a bow, exposing her stomach.

"She was my best friend, we did everything together," Bella paused "That's why you are called Darcy Alice, and she is your Aunt."

Darcy grabbed the picture from her hand and brought it close to her face, saying the name Alice over and over.

Bella pushed the heel of her hand into her eyes, pushing away the tears that had gather before the fell.

"What about this one?" Darcy waved a new picture in front of face.

"Well you're gonna have to hold it still, I can't see who it…" her forced smile faltered as her eyes caught the image of her self with her arm thrown around a boy who stood at least a foot taller than her, a crooked smile dressing his face and a hand woven nervously into his unruly bronze hair as his green eye's focused on her blushing face and his other arm slung loosely around her bare stomach.

"That's Edward," she swallowed hard "that's your Daddy."

* * *

Bella sighed, softly closing the door to Darcy's bedroom.

Who knew a five year old could ask so many questions? It had taken hours to answer them all and she had been so excited to learn it all.

Her new favourite color was blue, because that was Edward's favourite back then, she insisted that Bella make sure they had pizza with extra cheese for dinner tomorrow, even though she hated cheese, because Edward used to like it and she'd spent the last hour demanding piano lessons because she wanted to be able to play just like him.

Eventually she'd talked herself to exhaustion and Bella had carried her, still clutching the pictures of Alice and Edward, to her bed.

She walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower full, collecting towels and pyjamas while she waited for the water to heat.

Pulling the band from her hair and letting it fall around her face, she stared into the bathroom mirror.

So much had changed in six years, obviously, yet you wouldn't know it to look at her. Her hair was still as dishevelled and unruly as it had been in the pictures and even the Arizona sun didn't seem to tint her pale skin.

She still felt the same.

Angry that he'd left, that he'd never tried to find her again after claiming that he would never feel the same about anyone else the way he did for her and promising that he would be back.

Then there was the guilt. She knew that it wasn't his choice to leave and she shouldn't have blamed him for something he had no control over. She felt guilty for never letting him know about Darcy, but it had been such a shock, she stopped taking his calls, and replying to his letters and emails, because she didn't know how to say it…I'm pregnant.

Eventually he'd stopped trying.

One day Bella had tried…the same day she had decided to return back to Arizona to live with her mom again.

The people of Forks were becoming curious, her classmates went from not looking at her at all to taking second glances and her Charlie still wasn't talking to her beyond acknowledgement.

She drove a wedge between herself and Rose, refusing her invitations to go out with her Emmett and ignoring her pleads to call Alice or Edward in an effort to keep her secret and eventually their friendship had been reduced to a nod in the halls as she clutched her folders and books closer to prevent wandering eyes.

That day, she felt Darcy kick for the first time and suddenly it all seemed so real and impossible to ignore. It terrified her beyond belief and she had no one left to talk to.

Edward would make it better; he would know exactly what to say…except he had no idea what was going on. No one did apart from her parents.

So she tried. She called the number that he had written at the bottom of his letters only to find that it wasn't in service anymore.

Bella has sunk to her knees in a flurry of tears, only for Charlie to find her hours later still in the same position.

He pulled her to her feet and yelled at her. The first full sentence he'd uttered in her direction since she'd told him about the baby.

"You need to stop this, you need to pull yourself together," He screamed at her through her sobs "It's not about you anymore!"

"I don't know what to do!" She'd sobbed hysterically "Daddy, I'm so scared."

Three days later she found herself on a plane, destined for Skyharbour International and back to her mom.

Bella shook the thoughts from her head, the mirror in front of her now opaque with steam. She stripped and stepped into her bath tub, letting the hot spray rain down over her.

* * *

_"I don't wanna go!" Alice wailed clutching at Bella as they stood on the front porch of her house. Charlie sighed from the door, watching as they cried together._

_"I don't want you to go either," Bella squeezed her shoulders tighter "I'm gonna miss you so much."_

_Alice pulled her head up sharply and looked over at Charlie "Please Chief Swan, can I come stay with you? I promise I'll be quiet, I'll stick to curfew, anything?" She pleaded, tears streaming down her face._

_"Oh Alice," He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around both girls "you know that you could never be that quiet, and I'm sorry but you know that you can't stay here. You need to go with your family."_

_"But I don't want to!" She wailed again._

_Bella cuffed her tears and pulled Alice's face up to look at her "It's only a ten hour flight, it's not like I'll never see you again and just think! London will have all those cool shops that you've been telling me about. And when I come to visit you can drag me down Oxford Street and I promise we'll go in every single shop!"_

_Alice smiled and chuckled "You're such a liar."_

_"But you love me anyway!" Bella felt herself tearing up again "Now go, it's late and you still need to finish packing…I'll be at the airport tomorrow to see you go, I promise."_

_"You better be!" Alice grabbed her again and turned to whisper in her ear "I'm sorry Edward didn't come, I have no idea where he is."_

_"That's okay," Bella shrugged "I'll just see him in the morning, I guess."_

_"Bye Chief." Alice stepped up and hugged Charlie._

_"Good bye Alice, I'm gonna miss you rocketing around here all the time." He patted her back clearly uncomfortable._

_Alice sniffed and descended the porch steps "See ya later Bellarina!" She waved._

_"Later Tink."_

_Bella watched tearfully as Alice pulled her little yellow mini from the drive and disappeared down the road._

_"Come on Bell's," Charlie pulled her shoulders softly "It's getting late; you need to get some sleep if you wanna be up in time to go the airport."_

_She nodded and tore her eyes away from the road "Okay. I'm just gonna go upstairs then."_

_"Goodnight Bella."_

_"Night, dad" Bella climbed the stairs slowly, shuffling her feet along the landing until she reached her bedroom._

_She sank on to her bed, quietly heaving sobs and listening as her dad locked the house before turning in for the night._

_"Bella?" A harsh whisper came from behind her; she sat up searching the room "Bells!" It was louder this time._

_Bella stood and walked to the window, pulling back the drapes and jumping back in surprise when she saw Edward sitting in the tree that grew along side the house._

_"Jesus Christ Cullen, what are you doing?" She scowled moving out of the way as he gingerly stretched a leg over and placed his foot on the sill pushing against the tree to propel his body towards the open window._

_"Whoa!" His arms flailed as he fought to balance and Bella yelped and grabbed his shirt pulling him towards her, sending them both crashing to the floor._

_"Ouch!" She winced, rubbing the back of her head._

_"Oh my god, are you okay?" Edward propped himself on his elbows and stared down at her._

_"I'm fine but…" Bella blushed._

_"But, what?" Edward asked frantically "Are you hurt?"_

_"No, could you…get off me?"_

_It was Edwards turn to blush as he realised his body rested on top of hers "Oh, god I'm…"_

_"Bell's, you okay in there?" Charlie yelled from the other side of the door._

_Edward scrambled to get out of the rather compromising position they'd gotten in._

_"Ah, yeah dad," She shouted back "I, uh, got my foot caught in the sheets when I stood up and I fell."_

_"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He asked hurriedly and he began to twist the handle._

_Edward scurried across the floor and wiggled under Bella's bed "No!" Bella yelled "I'm fine, but I'm not dressed so stay out there." She winced at the lie._

_"Oh, I…uh" Charlie stuttered._

_Bella reached into her closet and pulled out a bath robe, wrapping around herself to cover the denim shorts and pink tank top she'd been wearing all day, before opening the door a crack._

_She waved her arms and legs "See all limbs still intact, just got a little bump…nothing a little Tylenol won't cure."_

_"Okay well if you sure." Charlie frowned "Just be more careful okay, we don't need you breaking your leg before you go back to school."_

_"No more fighting with the sheets got it." Bella smiled and shut the door and listened as Charlie mumbled his way back to his room._

_"What the hell are you doing here?" She hissed pulling off the robe "What's wrong with visiting with Alice and using the front door like a normal person?"_

_"And I thought you like the fact that I wasn't normal?" He scowled back._

_"Edward?" She folded her arms across her chest, fighting the urge to smile. "Don't make me ask you again."_

_"God, I just wanted to see you before I left," He frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets "But if this is how you're gonna be I'm just gonna leave."_

_Edward turned and headed back towards the window, Bella's heart sank "No!" She reached out to him "Please don't go?"_

_He smiled and turned back to her, shuffling his feet nervously "I was wondering…"_

_"What?" Bella prompted quietly._

_"You remember when we were younger and we used to go to the lake to swim in the summer?"_

_"Yeah, I remember." She nodded "What about it?"_

_"Well, I wondered if you wanted to go there with me." He glanced up at her through his eyelashes, his cheeks tinged pink "You know, for old time sake."_

_"I" Bella started, glancing behind her at her bedroom door, pulling her lip between her teeth nervously "I'd love too."_

_"Cool, come on" Edward smiled gleefully grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the window._

_"Wait, I can't go out the window!" Bella exclaimed, yanking her hand free "I'll break every bone in my body!"_

_"Don't be ridiculous! What are you gonna do, use the front door? I'd like to see you explain that one to Charlie!" he scoffed "Don't you trust me?"_

_"Of course I do, it's my co-ordination I've got issues with."_

_"I won't let you fall Bella, I promise." He smiled, straddling the window, one hand outstretched towards her._

_"Good, cause" if you do I'm taking you with me." She placed her hand in his and proceeded to let him guide her down the tree and to his waiting car._

_They drove in silence for the thirty minutes it took to get to the lake. Bella's stomach flipped in excitement and anxiety._

_Edward was Alice's older brother and she'd known them both for years, spending weeks of her summer vacations to Forks with them. He'd become an older brother, always looking out for her, protecting her from the boys at the reservation who decided to pick on her. But she was finding it harder and harder to think of him like that and her mind began to wonder to murkier, dirtier depths where he was concerned._

_He made her nervous, her palms got sweaty and her heart rate soared and she blushed uncontrollably whenever he was around._

_Now they were alone and she felt it all, only ten times worse. She was sure he'd hear her heart banging against her chest._

_She breathed deep and tried to clam down, the smell of vanilla, mint and cigarette smoke clouding her head._

_Bella closed her eyes and frowned trying to clear the fuzziness "You've been smoking?"_

_"Yeah, I've been trying to quit but I don't know. It helps when I'm nervous." He shrugged._

_"What are you nervous about?" Edward pulled off the road and turned of the engine._

_"A lot of things." He shrugged again and unclipped himself._

_Bella fumbled with her seatbelt, finally releasing it looking up to find Edward at her door, holding a hand out to help her from the seat._

_"Um, thanks." She blushed again and gazed at the floor as she let him pull her up._

_"Come on," He said twisting their fingers together "Let's go to the jetty."_

_Bella frowned at their intertwined fingers, stumbling behind him as he led her towards the water. She didn't register that the soft crunch of grass under her flip flops and turned to slaps against the boards of the jetty, and she didn't notice that Edward had stopped until she bumped into him, almost sending both of them into the water._

_"Careful!" he chuckled, grabbing her waist and steadying them both._

_His hands lingered on her sides and Bella cleared her throat. She kicked of her flip flops and sat at the edge, her feet gliding through the still, dark water._

_"I get nervous about flying," she stated, grabbing Edward's attention away from the dark sky "I always worry about turbulence, ice on the wings or engine fires. I drive everyone crazy when I make the trip between my mom and dad and I can't have a window seat, especially if it's on or in clear view of the wing. I'd rather not see the falling or the flames or whatever."_

_"And then I annoy the people next to me because when I get nervous, I just talk," She gesticulated wildly "And my hands go everywhere and a couple of times I've had people ask me to be quiet and once someone even requested to be moved, but I can't help it. It's like I channel Ali…"_

_She was cut off by Edwards hand over her mouth. Her eyes went wide and her cheeks flamed as she turned and found that he had sat next to her, his jeans rolled up to knees and his shoes carefully placed next to hers.._

_"Do I make you nervous?" he grinned and Bella nodded, his hand still clamped firmly across her face._

_She instinctively licked her lips, the tip of her tongue, brushed against the palm of his hand. His grin fell and he gasped, pulling his hand back and rubbing it against his denim clad thigh._

_"I'm sorry," She stared at her lap "about the hand, I didn't mean to, um…"_

_"Lick me?"_

_"Oh god!" She threw her head into her hands and groaned in embarrassment._

_"Chill Bella, I'm kidding!" He grabbed her wrist and brought it to the gap between their legs, tangling his fingers with hers again._

_"Flying never gets me nervous, I tend to sleep most of the time," He squeezed her hand trying to calm her down "Except this one flight we went on, when I was twelve. It was a really long flight and we had a stop over about halfway, and when we got back up in the air we hit this air pocket."_

_He shot her a crocked smile, and her stomach flipped again "And of course I'd spent the night before with Emmett watching "Alive". I was convinced we were gonna end up crashing in the mountains and I'd get eaten!"_

_Bella giggled hysterically next to him._

_"It's not funny!" Edward exclaimed "My dad actually had to sedate me for the rest of the journey."_

_"I know, I shouldn't laugh I'm sorry," She tried to calm her laughter and level her breathing "so…"_

_Edward turned to her, eyebrow raised._

_"If it's not the flying that's got you nervous what is it? New country? College?"_

_Edward sighed, and ran his thumb over her fingers "It's a nice night isn't it? I'm gonna go for a swim."_

_He jumped up and Bella quickly followed "You can't do that! It's dark and the waters cold."_

_"It's not that dark, the moons out and it's pretty clear," His eye's glanced over the sky and he pulled his t-shirt over his head "you gonna join me?"_

_"What? No!" She exclaimed "and I really think you should re-consider what you're about to do."_

_"This is probably gonna be the last chance I get to do this for a long time, I'm doing it." He pulled the button of his jeans free and pushed the fly down, letting them drop to the floor._

_"Did you bring a suit?" Bella asked, frowning._

_"Got my birthday suit if that counts!" He chuckled and pulled at his boxer shorts. Bella yelped when she realised what he was doing and her hand flew to her eyes._

_"Geez Cullen, a bit of warning, you could have scarred me for life!" She squeaked trying to keep her voice calm and her cheeks cool._

_She heard him chuckle and then a loud splash as he jumped into the water, swiftly followed by spluttering and a sharp yelp._

_"Edward!" She yelled "Edward? Are you okay?"_

_Her eyes rapidly scanned the now rippling water, finally landing on an Edward standing hip deep in water, his damp skin almost sparkling in the moonlight._

_"Shit its cold!" he exclaimed._

_She swallowed hard as she watched the water run down his skin, tracking through the lines of his lean muscles and dragging her eyes further down._

_"Bella!" Her eyes shot back up to his face and she realised she'd been caught ogling; a wide grin spread across his face "I said are you coming in?"_

_"I didn't bring my suit." She said softly._

_"It's not like we haven't done this before," he scoffed "I'll even turn around."_

_"Oh such a gentleman!" She growled sarcastically "The last time we did this without suits I was nine and we kept our underwear on."_

_Bella bent to his pile of discarded clothes and caught his boxers on the edge of her finger, swinging them "You seem to have already disregarded that particular rule."_

_"I didn't realise skinny dipping had clothing non-optional rules."_

_"It's just not the same as it was back then." She dropped the underwear back to the floor._

_"Believe me, I'd noticed," Edward said softly and Bella wasn't sure he'd meant for her to hear "Come on, I promise I won't look and we'll stay in the deep water."_

_"But there might be ringworm or I could get Necrotizing Fasciitis." She shuddered._

_"I doubt it, but if that were true then you're already screwed because you put you're feet in already." He cocked his head at her "Leave your underwear on and I'll turn around while you get in."_

_Bella huffed "Fine, but turn around."_

_Edward turned, shaking his head and began to palm the surface of the water._

_Her heart raced as she quickly removed all of her clothes, using her hands to cover her modesty._

_"Just jump in, it's cold but you'll get over it quicker if you just go for it."_

_"I will not "just go for it" I have no idea how deep that water is, I might break my ankle or something." She slipped her foot into the water squeaking and pulling back momentarily, before taking a deep breath and taking long strides into the cold._

_"Be careful, there are some jagged rocks around the edges." Edward called over his shoulder._

_"I'll be fine, just stay facing the other way!"_

_She continued to wade in, the water lapping gently against her skin and Goosebumps dimpling it._

_'It's cccold" she stammered as the water hit her stomach, bringing both arms around her exposed chest._

_"It'll be fine, you'll get used to it." Edward turned to face her, his gaze quickly dropping to where her arms covered._

_"Edward!" Bella crouched in the water._

_He held his hands up in defence "Sorry, I thought you were submerged."_

_"I don't think the water goes any deeper." She shivered._

_"I remember it being deeper than this…and wider," he glanced around his surroundings "this is more of a pond than a lake. I wonder if there are any fish."_

_"Fish?" Bella screamed and jumped up her arms flailing "I hate fish!"_

_Edward froze and his eyes wide and mouth gaping. Bella frowned and followed his gaze, looking down at her breasts._

_"Oh my god!" She quickly sank chin deep into the water "First fish and now this, I don't think this night could be any worse!"_

_"I think it's been pretty good so far." He stared down at her._

_"Well you would say that, you're a teenage boy who got to see boobies."_

_"Boobies, huh?"_

_"Turn around, I'm getting out" Bella scowled and turned back towards the bank._

_"What's the point, I just saw it all anyway?" Edward chuckled._

_"You're such an asshole; I don't know why I bothered coming."_

_"Aw Bella, I'm kidding!" He called after her "I was just trying to lighten the mood, please don't go?"_

_"I've had enough, I'm not something to be ogled and laughed at."_

_"Well I seem to recall you did exactly that earlier, or was it the naked guy standing behind me that you were staring at?"_

_"Fuck you!" She hissed._

_"Bella!" He called again "Do you wanna know what I'm nervous about?"_

_She turned back to him; her arms clamped firmly across her chest again "Can't we do this on land?"_

_"I'm scared of leaving this place," He continued "of forgetting everything that I have here."_

_She saw him swallow and start towards her, the water incredibly low on his hips._

_"Just stay there," she held her hand up "I don't need visuals."_

_"I don't want to shout at you." He stepped further._

_"Fine, I'll come to you but…keep it covered!"_

_She pushed through the water, feeling with her feet and motioning for him to back further into the deeper water until they stood less than a foot apart._

_His eyes drifted to her chest again, and she pulled her arm tighter around herself "Eyes on my face perv!"_

_Edward coughed a little and crouched lower into the water._

_"You were saying?"_

_"Um…oh right," he shook his head "I'm scared of leaving it all behind."_

_"But you're not leaving it all," Bella shrugged "you're family will be with you and I'm sure Emmett will visit…especially seeing as he can drink legally over there!"_

_"Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" Edward smiled._

_"I know you'll miss you're friends, but if they really are your friends they'll keep in touch."_

_"Will you?"_

_"Will I what?" Bella frowned._

_"Keep in touch?"_

_"Sure, I mean you'll be with Alice so I'll probably…"_

_"Not just Alice," His cheeks warmed "will you keep in touch with me?"_

_"If you want me to?"_

_"I do, I…" Edward sighed and pulled his at his hair "Shit! This is coming out wrong; this is such a bad idea!"_

_Bella frowned "What's a bad idea?"_

_"This!" He exclaimed wildly "It wasn't supposed to be like this, it was supposed to be easy, and I mean how hard can it be? Huh?"_

_He grasped his hair in both hands, talking frantically in to the darkness "I can think it, and I can say it when I'm on my own but with you it's just….Gah! This is stupid, I love you, and it's just three little words really shouldn't be that hard to say…"_

_"Edward?" Bella whispered, her heart thumping._

_"Honestly, .You, they have got to be some of the shortest words ever yet when you try to say them out loud it's like trying to say ____ (this is actually the longest word in the English dictionary as far as I know) and I can say that no problem!"_

_"Edward?" She repeated gripping his wrists._

_He didn't seem to hear her "But this is just is just stupid, oh my g…"_

_Bella slammed her mouth against his, the force sending him stumbling slightly and she felt him freeze momentarily, and gradually his lips began to move against hers._

_She had done it to shut him up…or at least that's what she told herself, but she couldn't pull away._

_A moan escaped as his tongue glided along her lip, allowing him entrance. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth biting down softly._

_Edward pulled away first and Bella wrenched her eye's open, gasping for air. Her fingers were twisted into his hair and his hands squeezed at her waist._

_"Sorry about that!" She gasped "But you wouldn't shut up."_

_"I…I" He stammered._

_"Did you say…did you…?"_

_His eyes widened as it dawned on him. He'd got so caught p in his outburst that he hadn't realised he'd actually said it._

_"You said "I love you", who were you saying it to?" Bella pulled her hands from his hair, but stayed in his grip._

_"Well do you see any other beautiful, wet, half naked girls here?" he exclaimed._

_"Well. I…" Bella looked around._

_"No, Bella, the answer is no, there isn't anyone else here." He brought a hand up and pushed her hair back "Ever since you began high school it just changed."_

_"What did?"_

_"You, I mean I was used to you coming to forks every summer and then practically living with us, and then for two years you didn't come back."_

_He paused "And then when you came back in freshman year you'd, well…" he looked at her breasts "grown! Ouch!"_

_"And to believe I actually thought you were being serious!" She slapped him again._

_"I am, but they're kind of distracting!" He grazed a knuckle over her nipple and she gasped at the sensation._

_"Edward!" She growled._

_"Um, at first I put it down to hormones, I mean you said it yourself earlier. Teenage boy…" he pointed to himself and then to her "Boobies." And she turned to leave._

_He grabbed her wrist "But then the other guys started noticing you, and I listened to the things they would say about you and I got angry, and not just because you were my little sisters best friend, but because I wanted to be the only one who could think like that about you, do the things they were talking about to you."_

_"I thought it was wrong, I mean I've known you like forever, so I just didn't say anything, but…"_

_"But what?" Bella prompted breathlessly._

_"But every time I'm around you I get nervous, my heart beats so fast like it's trying to break out, my hands get sweaty; the way you smell drives me insane and when you do…that!" He pointed at her mouth, as she chewed on her bottom lip "God knows why but it is the most god damned sexy thing I have ever seen."_

_"So what you're trying to say is…"_

_"I'm in love with you Bella, and I couldn't leave here without telling you that."_

_Bella hugged herself, frowning as she processed everything he'd said._

_"I don't know." She finally whispered "I feel something when I'm with you, something that I don't feel with anyone else but I don't know what it is…I don't think I can say…"_

_"You don't have to, Bella," He cupped her cheek "I just couldn't leave and not say it, I didn't want to regret letting you slip away."_

_She let her eye's fall shut "Will you…Maybe…Can you kiss me again?"_

_"Are you sure?" His eyes were dark as he stared back at her, and she simply nodded._

_He pulled her arms from her chest and rested them over his shoulders, pulling her body closer to his and lifting her slightly, brushing his lips against hers. "I've waited so long for you to ask me that."_

_"Then what are you waiting for?"_

_His mouth moulded against hers, his tongue flicking out against her lips, desperate to deepen the kiss and she accepted willingly, moaning throatily as he nibbled and sucked, his hands ghosting over her breast threatening to touch but never applying the pressure._

_"Please?" She whispered._

_"Please what?"_

_"Just touch me already!" She arched her back into his hand, and he kneaded the soft flesh, dragging the pad of his thumb over her pert nipples sending shock waves down through her stomach and settling between her thighs._

_She ground her hips against his and he growled "I told you to leave your underwear on!"_

_"I…Didn't want to ruin them" She gasped as he rocked back against her, his hand pressing flat against her ass and keeping her pressed tightly against his hardness._

_"Fucking Shit!" He hissed and grabbed her waist, her weightlessness in the water making it easy for him to lift her round his waist._

_"Oh god!" She moaned as she felt the head rub against her clit "Holy !"_

_"You like that?" He teased repeating his action, and her head fell against his chest biting down hard to stifle another moan, rocking against him causing his tip to slip into her core._

_"Please?"_

_This time he didn't ask, he pushed in slowly, Bella throwing her head back with one low guttural growl._

_"It…It…wasn't sup…supposed to, ugh, be like this." Edward breathed out against her damp skin, his head pressed tight against her breasts as their hips moved together._

_"What…do you, oh god! Do you wanna stop?" She pushed away from him, her legs still wrapped tightly around his waist and hands gripped at his shoulders for leverage._

_"Fuck no!" Edward shouted, his head lolling back as their movements became more frantic, the water lapping and rippling around their bodies._

_"Shit, Edward." Bella hissed as his hand found its way between them "Please don't stop, please don't!"_

_"That's it baby." His bent forward, biting at the puckered flesh of her breast, feeling her shudder and tense underneath him, sending him spiralling to his own end._

_Bella pulled herself to him, her arms wrapping around his shoulders, his head resting on her chest as they regained their breath._

_"I love you Bella." He whispered._

_"For now anyway." She smiled softly, kissing his nose and slipping from his body, wading her way back to the jetty._

_Edward followed her silently, save for the gentle sloshing of the water._

_"That's not true," He grabbed his jeans and slipped into them, pocketing his boxers and holding his t-shirt "I don't think I'll ever not love you."_

_Bella pulled her tank top down over her stomach "By this time tomorrow you'll be nearly six-thousand kilometres away, this time next week you'll be in a new school making new friends and then by this time next year there will be someone else's name on the end of "I love you" and I'll just go back to being the annoying little girl who used to eat all of your marshmallows."_

_She paused to look at his face, her stomach churned painfully and her nose stung as she fought back tears. She didn't realise this would hurt so much…a crush shouldn't cause this much pain._

_"And it will be as if this never happened…we'll all go back to normal."_

_Edward twisted the hem of his shirt around his fingers, "I'll never feel for anyone the way I do for you," he said finally meeting her eyes "and one day, I'll prove it to you."_


	2. Chapter 2

"Darcy?" Bella called up the stairs "Sweetie, where's your backpack?"

"I don't know." A little voice rang out, followed by a series of bumps "Where are my fairy shoes?"

"Where did you leave them?" She shouted to her daughter, crouching down to look under the table for the elusive bag and shoes.

"Well if I knew that, I wouldn't ask!" Darcy appeared on her knees next to her mother.

Bella scowled a little "I think you've been hanging around Nana too much." she shook her head and got back to her feet "Can you remember the last time you wore the shoes?"

"When I was with Nana," She chirped "and she took me to get ice cream."

Bella thought back to the previous Saturday when Darcy had bounded up the driveway in her new white dress that was now covered in melted chocolate ice cream, multicoloured stains from all the spilt sprinkles and sticky strawberry sauce. She walked her straight into…

"The laundry room!" Bella announced as she walked down the hall and into the room. She glanced around, picking up a pile of neatly folded laundry and placing it on top of the dryer "Here they are."

Darcy grinned widely at the pink satin shoes that Bella held in her hands, snatching them away and dropping to the floor to slip them on her feet.

"Now where's that damn bag?" Bella huffed "I need to put your gym clothes in the wash before we leave."

Darcy shrugged, buckling the last strap on her shoe.

"Well I guess it'll just have to wait "till tonight, come on we're gonna be late for school." Bella marched to the door grabbing her daughters lunch and her pink pea coat from the back of a kitchen chair and rescuing her car keys from there precarious position on the edge of the table "Come on."

"I don't want to go to school." Darcy mumbled toeing the kitchen floor.

"What?" Bella sighed and walked back to her daughter, kneeling down in front of her "Why don't you want to go to school? I thought you liked it there?"

Darcy shrugged; her satin covered toes suddenly the most interesting thing in the room.

"Is it Katie? Did she say something to you again?" She prompted softly. squeezing her shoulders lightly only to be answered by the shake of her daughters head.

"I don't have time for this!" She whispered to herself, rubbing her forehead "I tell you what, you go to school today and when we get home this afternoon, we can have pizza and ice cream and then you can tell me what's wrong. Okay?"

Darcy nodded "Right, let's go then!" Bella slipped Darcy's arms into her coat and pulled her out to the car.

Bella let out a drawn out breath as she buckled herself in, a glance at the passenger seat revealed the missing backpack "Oh good." She grabbed the bag and pulled out yesterday's gym clothes and stuffed the lunch bag inside "What's this?"

She picked up a folded slip of green paper that sat next to the bag, opening it out to find a picture of a sad face with yesterdays date written in the corner.

"Did you draw this Darcy?" She turned toward the back seat, holding up the picture and Darcy sucked her lip into her mouth, her cheeks flushed red "Answer me."

Darcy shook her head and Bella looked back down at the picture turning it over in her hands. Written across the bottom of the slip were Darcy's class number and the name "Jasper Whitlock".

She threw the slip on to the dashboard and put the car in drive, the drive to the school quiet.

Bella grabbed Darcy from her seat and carried her towards the class room, following the line of children now entering to start there day.

"Excuse me?" Bella asked an unfamiliar blonde standing over the teacher's desk, her daughter slipping from her grasp and disappearing across the room "Where can I find Mr Whitlock? I'd like to talk to him about my daughter."

"Oh I'm sorry Mrs…"

"Swan, Miss Swan"

"I'm sorry Miss Swan but Mr Whitlock is running late this morning, he won't be in for at least an hour." The blonde smiled sweetly "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Um…I'm sorry what's your name?" Bella smiled apologetically.

"I'm Miss Stanley, Mr Whitlock's assistant".

"Well Miss Stanley, do you know anything about green slips with faces on?"

"Yeah," She nodded enthusiastically "Everyday each child gets a slip, Yellow, Blue or Green. Yellow means that the child has been really good that day, Blue for an okay day and Green is for a not so good day."

"What kind of system is that?" Bella frowned angrily.

"We know it's not perfect, but sometimes not all the parents get the chance to talk with the teachers at the end of the day and at least this way they have some indication of how they're doing until they can find the time." She shrugged "What's your daughter's name?"

"Cullen, Darcy Cullen."

Miss Stanley scanned through a pile of papers on the desk and pulled some out "Unfortunately it would seem that Darcy has had a few of the green slips this month."

"Really, but…" Bella glanced around the room spying her daughter peeking out from behind a book case "This is the first one I've seen, are you sure there's not been a mistake?"

"I'm sorry Miss Swan but she's had three the past two weeks and five since the beginning of October, she's being disruptive, shouting over the other children, refusing to play with them" She turned the paper to show Bella and pointed out the numbers next to Darcy's name "Mr Whitlock wanted to give you this."

She handed Bella a small envelope and watched as she tore it open.

_'Dear Mrs Cullen,_

_I would like to discuss the matter of your daughter's recent behaviour during class. If you could please speak to me or my class assistant Miss Stanley to arrange an appropriate time I would me most grateful._

_Sincerely_

_Jasper Whitlock.'_

Bella shook her head in disbelief "Well," she swallowed "when can I see Mr Whitlock?"

Miss Stanley scanned a desk top calendar "You could probably just pop in after school this afternoon if that's good for you?"

"That'll be fine." She tried to force a smile and walked towards the door "Darcy?"

"Yes momma?" The little girl appeared at her side, her eye's wide as she bent to her level.

"I want you to be good today," Bella pushed a stray piece of hair from her small face "You need to listen, to the other children as well as Mr Jasper it's not nice to shout over them. You don't like it when you're trying to talk to Pop Phil and Nana talks over you, do you?"

Darcy shook her head "Well it's just the same with everyone else. I'm coming to talk to Mr Jasper later, and then you'll tell me what you did with the green slips, Okay?"

Bella looked at her watch "I'll see you later." She kissed her hair and ran from the class.

* * *

Bella had spent the whole of her shift at the local library in a daze, barely registering any inquiries that were thrown her way as she thought about her meeting.

After what felt like days rather than hours she found herself back at the school, watching as the last child left the room, leaving only Darcy sitting at her table, hunched over a drawing. She glanced around the room, finding the teacher pushing some defiant books into the over stuffed book case.

He stood, smoothing out his black slacks and grey sweatshirt, a wide smile spreading over his face as he noticed Bella in the door way.

He pushed his jaw length, blonde curls behind his ear and walked towards her, holding out his hand to greet her "Hello, I'm Jasper Whitlock, \I teach the kindergarten class, you must be Mrs Cullen?" He asked, a slight southern twang pushing through in his voice.

"It's Swan actually, Miss Swan." She shook his hand and he motioned to a chair in front of his desk.

"Forgive me," He smiled "I just assumed that you and Darcy had the same name. I'm sorry."

"its fine Mr Whitlock, it's not the first time and it probably won't be the last." She chuckled lightly and shrugged.

"Please, call me Jasper. Well let's start shall we?" He pulled out the paper that Bella had seen earlier that day "Jessica…Miss Stanley, informed me that you were not aware that Darcy had been receiving the green slips, is that right?"

"That's right," Bella nodded "I found one this morning when I took her gym clothes out of her bag, but apart from that I haven't seen any."

Jasper sighed "The reason your daughter has been getting these slips is her behaviour, mostly the past three weeks. It's nothing to be alarmed about and it's certainly no cause for major concern but it is something that needs to dealt with before it gets to out of hand."

"Miss Stanley said that she was being disruptive?"

"Yes, mainly not putting her hand up and waiting to be spoken to, shouting over her fellow classmates and not co-operating or sharing during play…most recently she's has been refusing to answer to her name and is instead demanding to be called Alice."

Bella's eyes widened and she turned to her daughter, who sat quietly, chewing her lip "Is that true Darcy?"

She looked up and nodded.

Jasper smiled at Darcy "While I do love the name Alice, I think that Darcy suits her much better."

"I think I may know what set it off," Bella turned back to Jasper and rested her head in her hands "on the first day of school you set an activity for the children to draw there families?"

Jasper nodded "Well it's complicated but it's kind of just me and her, always has been except for when my parents visit every other weekend, and that picture brought up a lot of questions about family she's never met, mainly her Aunt Alice and her…father."

"Well that would definitely explain the wanting to be called a different name." Jasper nodded.

"Well it's her middle name too."

Japer pulled out the class register and scanned the names, chuckling to himself "So it is, Darcy Alice Cullen…That's funny"

"What?" Bella frowned "Why's it funny?"

"Jazz!" A shrill voice rang through the room as the door banged open, "I've been waiting outside for ages, what are you…oh, sorry!"

"Excuse me for a moment." Jasper left his seat and walked over to the woman in the doorway talking in hushed whispers, and Bella turned to Darcy who was stared wide eyed at the pair.

"Auntie Alice!" She yelled jumping from her chair.

Bella followed her with her eyes as she ploughed straight into the woman, almost knocking her down.

"I'm sorry sweetie," She laughed "But I think you've got the wrong Alice."

Bella stared slack jawed at the petit girl who knelt in front of her daughter, her short black hair stylishly dishevelled and her dark green/blue eyes sparkling as she smoothed down Darcy's hair. Her heart pounding in her chest and her breath caught in her throat.

"But you look just like the picture." Darcy's face was crumpling "The one of you and momma."

She followed Darcy's line of sight as she stared at her mother, the perfectly glossed grin dropping into an "O" as there eye's met.

"Oh my god!" She breathed standing, the smile slowly re-appearing "Bella?"

"Alice!" Bella gasped as the smaller woman hurtled herself towards her screeching.

"Oh my god Bella!" She squeezed her into a surprisingly tight hug "It's been so long, what are you doing here? Where have you been? Did you meet Jasp…" her voice trailed off and her eye's widened further "Wait did that little girl call you Momma?"

Bella nodded dumbly only to be engulfed in Alice's grip for a second time, as she screeched even louder.

Alice ran back to Darcy "She's beautiful, gorgeous oh my god she looks just like you and…"

She stopped, her brow furrowing and her fingers running through Darcy's auburn hair "My names Alice, what's your's?"

Darcy smiled brightly "Darcy Alice Cullen."

Alice's head shot round and Bella pulled her arms around herself, a bottomless pit forming in her stomach.

"Cullen?" Alice stood and walked back to Bella "She's…you and…"

Bella nodded, a warm tear spilling over and running down her cheek.

"All this time?" Alice asked "And you never said anything?"

Jasper stepped forward, arms folded at his chest, brow furrowed and shaking his head "Any one want to tell me what's going on?"

"This is Isabella Swan, my best friend from home," A flash of recognition shone in Jaspers eyes "and it would appear that this little girl is my niece…Edwards's daughter."

* * *

"Um." Jasper pinched his lips and looked at the silent women in front of him. Bella stood watery eyed, her lip sandwiched firmly between her teeth and her eye's locked on Alice, who stared right back up at her, her expression stern and unchanging.

Then he glanced down to Bella's side where Darcy stood, gripped to her thighs, a look of awe and bewilderment spread across her happy face.

"Why don't we take this somewhere else?" He walked quickly to the coat racks, picking Darcy's jacket from it hook and holding it out for her to slip her arms into "We can go back to our place, and I can fix little Miss Darcy some dinner, how does that sound?" He bent down in front of the little girl, smiling widely and fastening the buttons.

Bella swallowed, and dragged her eyes from Alice to him, nodding "Sure."

He shot Alice a quick glance, and smiled widely at her and she nodded back at him, reaching her hand out to Darcy "You want to ride in my car with me?"

"Oh…I" Bella stammered looking between Jasper and Alice.

"Its okay, Darcy can show me your car and we'll switch out the car seat." Alice smiled walking out of the door, the sound of her heels clicking on the linoleum floor and the excited voice of her daughter fading.

"Come on," Jasper reached behind Bella and pulled a coat from the wall "you can give me a ride home, Alice's car only has two seats."

Bella nodded dumbly and Jasper gestured to the door, allowing her to leave the room before flicking off the fluorescent lights and closing the door behind him.

* * *

"Do you got any blue straws?" Darcy asked as Jasper placed a glass in front of her, a pink straw bent over the edge, before shoving a fork full of potatoes into her mouth "Blue is my most favourite!"

"It is?" Jasper exclaimed turning to the cupboards behind him, and pulling out the packet of straws "We'll it just so happens that we do. And you know what makes them even better? They're sparkly blue!"

Darcy's mouth dropped open in a gasp, as she snatched the straw from between his fingers, and began twirling it in her own.

"Darcy Cullen! Don't snatch!" Bella scolded from the next room, her head peeked around the door frame to watch her daughter "And say thank you."

Darcy chewed her lip and glanced shyly up at Jasper "Thank you Mister Jasper."

"You are welcome Miss Darcy." He smiled and patted her head, before walking to join Bella and Alice, perching on the arm of her chair.

"So," Bella smiled nervously "How are you? How long have you been back in the states?"

"I'm good," Alice nodded enthusiastically "I came back to get Jazz, he spent a term at my university in London, and after he left I knew I couldn't stay away from him…so I transferred back over here and," She held up her hand towards Bella, a large platinum and diamond ring, sparkling on her finger."

"Wow!" she smiled "That's so good, I'm so pleased!"

Alice shifted and leant forward towards Bella, Jaspers hands resting reassuringly in the middle of her back "I looked for you when I came back." She whispered and Bella let her head fall, focusing on her fingers. "You were my best friend, and I couldn't understand why I stopped hearing from you, I called, wrote, e-mailed…if it wasn't for the photographs I would have begun to think you never existed!"

"I'm sorry Alice, I know I went about it all wrong but…I just…" Bella trailed off and shook her head.

"Damn right you did!" Alice exclaimed "Every time I spoke to Rose, she would tell me how much you'd changed…you stopped hanging out, you withdrew until eventually you never even spoke to her and Emmett let alone anyone else and then one day…you just stopped turning up for school."

"I wasn't doing so go…good," Bella started to well up, her voice shaky "My d…dad and I thought it would be better if I came back to Ph…Phoenix."

"But I don't get it?" Alice stood up quickly startling her "Why did you shut everyone out? Why didn't you tell me? Tell Edward?"

"Because I was scared!" Bella shouted, quickly glancing towards the kitchen at her daughter, her fork mid air and her mouth still open and her eye's locked on her mother. Bella tried to smile reassuringly, rubbing her hands against her thighs as she urged herself to calm down, turning back to Alice "I had just turned seventeen when I found out about Darcy. One day in Biology, we were doing blood typing and I fainted and hit my head on the edge of the table so they took me to hospital. I tried to tell them that it was just the sight of blood that had made it happen, but they wanted to do routine blood work just to make sure and that's when I found out. I was almost six weeks and I didn't even realise that I'd missed a period."

She pushed away the tears that rolled down her cheeks, and sniffed "My dad just stopped talking to me. He didn't shout, he didn't even tell me he was disappointed in me, he just walked out the room and waited in the car until I was ready to leave. He called my mom and she went ballistic! Screaming at me for being so stupid and throwing my life away."

"But it still doesn't explain why you didn't let us know." Alice interjected a pained look on her face.

Bella shrugged "I didn't want you to feel the same, I didn't want you to be disappointed in me so I hid it, but I…I did try once, to call Edward."

"You did?" Alice looked a little taken aback, and Bella nodded softly.

"In the January. Darcy, she started kicking and it scared me so much!" She shook her head and chuckled dryly "And I knew that I needed to tell him, I needed someone to tell me it was all gonna be okay, but when I tried the number it had been disconnected…I got hysterical and Charlie found me heaped on the floor a couple of hours later. I was back in Phoenix by the end of the week." She picked at her cuticles "I guess, at the time, I took it as a sign. He wasn't supposed to know."

"That's a crock and you know it!" Alice slipped on to the sofa next to her and chuckled "I didn't even realise you two were together, I mean it was pretty obvious that you liked each other but I never thought you actually did anything about it?"

Bella sniffed and wiped away the stemming flow of tears "We weren't together," she shrugged "It was just a one time thing, it wasn't planned… I found him outside my window the last night before you left, he said he wanted to go to the lake 'for old time sake', so I went. We were talking and then all of a sudden he decides that we need to go skinny dipping and I gave in and got in the water, and he just started babbling about how hard it was to say I love you…"

Alice gasped "He said that? Edward actually told you he loved you?"

"He just wouldn't shut up!" Bella exclaimed "And I guess a normal person would've just slapped him or hit with a rock or something but I…I kissed him and it just…"

"Escalated?" Jasper offered and Bella nodded and blushed profusely as she realised he was still in the room.

"We just got caught up in the moment, I guess" she smiled softly as she turned towards the kitchen to look at her daughter "I never thought anything would come of it."

Alice sighed "He really loved you, you know? It never really made sense until now, until this…" she pointed between Bella and the kitchen where Darcy sat "but he was so happy when we first got to London. He constantly had this smile on his face, always asking if I'd heard from you, what you were doing and talking about the E-mails you sent. And then he smiled less."

"Because I stopped calling," Bella whispered.

"Why didn't you try harder Bella? You could have called me, or E-mailed even if it was just to get me to call you!" Alice gripped Bella's hand in her own.

"I thought he would have moved on! He changed his number, he…" Alice cut her off.

"No he didn't!" She exclaimed "You said you tried in January? Was it about two weeks after New Years?" Bella nodded "His phone got stolen while he was on his way home one night. It took a week for the phone company to transfer his old number over…if you'd kept trying, you could've talked to him. He would've been on the first plane home, I know he would've."

"Exactly!" Bella stood up from her seat "He would have left everything he was working for… God only knows how much I love that little girl, and I wouldn't change her for the world but if I could have had her five years later?"

"I gave up my life to give her one, I can't afford college on top of rent and living…Edward didn't have to do the same."

"Don't you think that it should've been his decision?" Alice asked quietly "He deserves to know about her, to know that he has a daughter."

"I was selfish Alice, I know that!" She crumpled back on the sofa "If I told him then I would either have to live with the guilt of him giving up his life to stay with us, or the rejection when he decided he didn't want to know, and I couldn't handle that."

"And what about now?"

"Now it's even harder," Bella turned her head towards Alice and smiled sadly "Because my little girl wants to know her daddy, she wants to be like him, play like him. It's been five years, he's probably got it all set out for him…I never intended to keep her from him, at least not forever but it just seems to get harder every year."

"Even more reason to do it sooner!" Alice pleaded "You're my friend Bellarina, but he's my brother and he needs to know. If you don't tell him, then I will."

Bella opened her mouth to protest when Darcy skipped into the room "Aunt Alice?"

"Yes sweetie?" Alice grinned at her pulling the little girl up onto her lap.

"How do you know Mister Jasper? Is he your teacher too?" She asked, glancing between the two.

Alice chuckled and shook her head "No he's not my teacher, he's my Fiancé."

"What's a fi…fina…?" Darcy's brow furrowed.

"Fiancé, it means that we love each other very much and we want to be together always, and that one day…very soon, we'll get married." Alice smiled softly and brushed her fingers through her auburn hair.

Her little brow furrowed even deeper and she turned to Jasper "Does that mean I can call you Uncle Jasper?"

"If you want to," He chuckled "or just Jasper."

"So cool!" Darcy grinned before skipping back towards the kitchen, humming to herself.

"So…so how is he?" Bella swallowed hard "Edward, I mean. Is he doing okay?"

"He's doing great," Alice smiled "he's in his last year of clinical training; it's going to be pretty hectic for him!"

"Wow, Dr Edward Cullen," Bella breathed "has a ring to it…but maybe this isn't the right time to tell him about Darcy, you said it yourself he's going to be dealing with a lot."

"You can't get out of this Bells; if you insist on not telling him then I will pick up the phone right now and do it for you." Alice grabbed a cordless phone from the side table, gripping it in her hand "But I shouldn't have too."

Jasper left his perch on the arm of her chair, gently brushing her shoulder in reassurance as he passed and knelt in front of Bella "I can't, for one second, even begin to understand what it was like for you to have a child so young. But if it was me and Alice and she was in your situation I would want to know because I would not want to miss one moment with child as wonderful as that little girl in there." he nodded his head towards the kitchen "He deserves to know Bella, she deserves it."

Bella nodded slowly, and cuffed the tears that had formed in her eyes "I guess you better give me his number then."

Alice grabbed a notepad and scribbled the number across it, tearing it off for her "Can I make a suggestion?" she waited for Bella to nod "We…Jazz and I, are flying over to London in a week, for moms birthday. Why don't you come with us, both of you? It might be better if you could talk to him face to face, and I know mom will be ecstatic."

She shook her head "I'm not sure that's such a good idea Alice, I mean for one thing Darcy's never left the country she doesn't have a passport and secondly, what happens if he doesn't take it well? what if he doesn't believe she's his? It'll break her heart."

"Edward wouldn't do that Bella," Alice sighed "and he would never say anything bad in front of Darcy. Please come with us, I can call mom right now and tell her that we're bringing you so she can get a room ready for you, and as for a passport we can spend the whole of Saturday sitting at the office if that's what it takes…Please Bellarina?

"Let me think about it, okay?" She pleaded "give me tomorrow and you'll have my answer, I promise…we should get going." Bella stood and grabbed her jacket, heading towards Darcy.

"But I don't want to go!" She whined when her mother tried to thread her arms into her coat "I want to stay with Auntie Alice and Jasper!"

"You can't sweetie, I'm sorry," she bent down in front of her and buttoned her up "but you'll see Jasper tomorrow at school and if you want, you can call Auntie Alice before bed to say goodnight."

Alice nodded enthusiastically "I promise I will not let this phone out of my sight until I've spoken to you, and if you're really good for your momma, maybe she'll let you stay late after school so that I can see you when I get Jazz."

"Okay." Darcy mumbled, her bottom lip pushed out and trembling.

"Thanks for everything," Bella smiled and squeaked a little when Alice crushed her in another hug.

"It's so good to have you back Belly, I missed you so much." She whispered, and Bella returned the hug with equal fervour.

"I missed you to, Tink." She glanced over the top of Alice's head, to find Jasper with Darcy on his hip, her eyes heavy and her head lolled onto his shoulder.

Alice released her, and she grabbed her sleepy child from his arms "Thanks Jasper, I know this probably won't help with the situation at school, I'm sorry."

He shook his head at her "Don't worry about it, it's not that unusual, in fact she'll probably calm down now especially if she knows I'll report her to Auntie Alice if she misbehaves!" He grinned at the little girl teasingly "But I'll keep an eye on her, monitor her behaviour and we'll do a follow up report in a few weeks. It will all be fine."

Bella thanked them both again, and headed out the door followed by Alice who helped her slip the car seat back in to her own car.

"Do you have an e-mail address, or Facebook maybe? You know, so I can send you the trip details…in case you change your mind?" Alice asked her as she buckled in a now dozing Darcy.

"Umm, yeah to both but my Facebook is set to private so you won't find me on there through a name search, I'll add you once I get Darcy settled though if you'd like?"

"That would be great," Alice smiled "I'll check in a couple of hours, and if Darcy doesn't wake up tonight, she can call me in the morning…I'm up at six for work."

"She'd like that;" Bella nodded "I'll talk to you later."

* * *

At home Bella propped her self up at the kitchen table, with her laptop in front of her and a glass of wine beside her.

Darcy had stayed asleep the entire journey home and Bella had manager to manoeuvre her out of coat and into her bed without protest.

She pulled up her Facebook page and searched for Alice, finding her a few names down and clicked add before responding to a couple of random posts from her mother.

The chat bubble popped up in the corner, indicating a message and sure enough there was Alice informing her that she'd send her the trip details via private messaging, and reiterating her desire for her to go with them to London.

They chatted idly for a few more minutes, before Alice said she needed to go to bed and signed off for the night.

Bella chewed her lip and stared at the screen, gulping down the last mouthful of wine before pulling up Alice's profile. She perused her latest posts.

**Alice Cullen** _**knows something you don't know!**_

She chuckled quietly and shook her head "Well she never could keep anything to herself, I guess I should be grateful she hasn't put it on here."

She clicked on the photo's, flicking through them and smiling at the many images of Alice and her friends, Alice and Jasper and the faces of the Cullen family that she recognised. Her breath caught in her throat as she clicked to the next photo. It was a family photo, maybe from Christmas judging by the decorations in the background, with Esme and Alice in the middle and at the back stood Carlisle, Jasper and finally…Edward.

He hadn't changed much in all these years, but he'd filled out even more, lost all of his "baby fat" and gained some stubble. His hair still had the expertly mussed look, his eyes were still as intense as she remembered and that smile…that smile still made her heart flutter like she was sixteen all over again.

She clicked his name in the tags at the bottom.

**Edward Anthony Cullen **_**only shares some of his profile information with everyone. If you know Edward, send him a message **_**or**_** add him as a friend.**_

Bella toyed with the mouse button, puffing out a breath of air loudly and pressing the add friend button before she could change her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This is the last of my pre-written chapters, so this story won't be updated as frequently as it has been. Enjoy, review!**

* * *

"I'm really not sure about this, Alice." Bella shook her head, pushing Darcy's newly acquired passport, into her shoulder bag. "What if it's a huge mistake? What if he takes one look at her and hates me?"

"Bella," Alice wrapped her hand around the crook of Bella's elbow, pulling her into her side as they walked down the street, Darcy skipping happily along beside them. "Just stop and look at your daughter, how could anybody possibly have anything other than love for her? You need to do this, for all three of you."

"I know, I just..." Bella started, only for Alice to cut her off.

"He needs to know." She said sternly opening the door to Bella's car and helping Darcy in to her seat before shutting the door. "She's five years old...nearly six, that's a whole lot of time for them to miss out on each other."

"What if you're wrong?" Bella exclaimed, leaning against the side of the car, head in hands. "Why does this have to be so damn hard?"

"Because you left it so long." Alice stated bluntly, "You should have told him as soon as you found out, you and I both know that, but what's done is done."

"If I'm wrong, which I'm not," She cocked an eyebrow, "then you keep trying, you act civil when you're together and you put her first. There are a whole lot of people who would love to know her, my parents included."

Alice pulled Bella into a hug, "I love you Bellarina."

"I love you too Tink." Bella smiled as Alice pulled away and walked towards her own car.

"Bright and early Monday morning," Alice pointed at her, "Flights at six thirty, we'll get you at four. Be ready to go."

Bella nodded and slipped into her own car.

* * *

Bella had just finished zipping her overstuffed suitcase shut when there was a knock at the door.

She glanced quickly at her daughter, dozing open mouthed on the sofa, backpack under her head before pulling open the front door to reveal a rather tired looking Jasper.

"Hey Jasper," She greeted him quietly, "I'm ready I just need to get sleeping beauty from the couch. You think you could grab my case for me?"

"Sure thing, Bells." He smiled striding across the room and effortlessly lifting the large bag.

Bella knelt down in front of Darcy, gently brushing away a lock of hair that had fallen over her eyes. "Hey sweetie," She whispered "It's time to go."

Darcy's eyes opened slowly as she focused on her mother before suddenly sitting bolt up right. "Auntie Alice is here? We're going on the plane?"

"Yep," Bella nodded pulling her from her seat, "She's right outside with Jasper. Now let's get your coat and get going before we miss that plane!"

Darcy grabbed her bag from her mothers hand and ran squealing out the front door, completely bypassing the coat rack. Bella could hear the exact moment she saw Alice when her squeal escalated a few decibels and chuckled to herself as she grabbed both their coats and locked the house up.

"Morning Alice," She smiled, slipping into the seat next to Darcy's as Alice secured her straps.

"Good morning!" she practically sang. "Oh my god this is so exciting!"

Bella groaned and turned to Jasper as she started the car. "I forgot how much of a morning person she was…And how much I hated it!"

"I know what you mean." Jasper chuckled. "The first time she stayed over with me, I woke up at six thirty to her vacuuming my apartment and the bathroom was sparkling."

"Oh shut up!" Alice scowled buckling herself into the passenger seat. "You had a whole new type of life form growing in the bottom of your shower, and your carpet was breathing. There was no way I was sleeping in a house that could physically attack me!"

"It was college and I was a bachelor!" Jasper exclaimed.

"No it was college and you were gross. Everyone knows how to switch on a vacuum and rinse a shower stall…it's not rocket science!" She huffed, and Jasper pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head, eliciting a small grin before he pulled off and started towards the airport.

"Momma, where are we going?" Darcy asked, unzipping her little backpack and pulling out her favourite blue bear.

Bella smiled at her daughter. "Do you remember when Nana and Pop went away for a little while and when the came back they gave you the bear with a red jacket and a furry black hat?" Darcy nodded. "Well that bear came from a place called London and it's very far away, in a different country."

"We're going to London?" Darcy bounced in her seat with a huge smile on her face. "Really?"

"Really." Bella nodded.

"And when we get there we can do lots of different things! " Alice chirped, turning in her seat to face the little girl. "There's the Zoo, the Millennium Wheel, Big Ben, The Changing of the Guards and of course the shopping!"

"Alice, she's five!" Bella exclaimed.

"Exactly," Alice beamed at the little girl. "She's practically a woman, and women need pretty princess dresses."

"I'm a woman!" Darcy repeated and Bella scowled…

"Please don't put ideas into her head, Alice," she pleaded quietly. "She's stubborn enough as it is."

"Wonder where she gets that from?" Alice quipped turning back round in her seat.

* * *

The fasten seatbelt sign flashed on and the pilots voice filled the cabin, informing the passengers of the current descent in to Heathrow Airport.

Bella glanced over the seat next to her and smiled at her daughter, slumped in her chair and snoring softly having finally crashed out less than an hour ago. She gently reached over and fastened her belt and tilting her head up right.

"Not long now!" Alice practically squealed from behind her. "Oh god, I can't believe I stayed away for so long."

"I can't believe I'm here." Bella replied softly, watching through the window as the tiny lights of the houses below got bigger and bigger, and she could make out cars on the motorways, and Jasper lent forward squeezing her shoulder reassuringly.

"I still don't understand why you won't stay with us at the house, there's plenty of room for the both of you and I know mom would be so excited to have you both there." Alice said quickly. "It's not too late to cancel your reservations and come with us."

"If I stayed at the house then Esme would see Darcy." Bella sighed.

"And what's wrong with that?" She frowned.

"There's nothing wrong with that but," She paused, her lip slipping between her teeth as she thought about her response. "The whole point of this trip is to tell Edward about her, which is going to be a big enough shock in itself. I just think that if he knew that everybody else knew about her first it might make matters worse."

"I suppose you have a point." Alice slumped back into her seat as the plane bumped down on the runway and began its journey to the gate.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to London, England_." The tinny voice of the pilot rang from the speakers and Darcy stirred. "_It is ten forty five P.M. Local time and currently minus one degrees. Please stay seated until the seat belt light is switched off and we will disembark as soon as possible. We hope you enjoyed your flight, thank you for flying British Airways_."

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Bella's stomach rolled with nerves while Alice rolled her eyes.

"Suck it up Belly!" She exclaimed as she stood up and reached passed Jasper into the over head compartment to grab her bag and coat. "There's no turning back now."

"We're here for you Bella," Jasper smiled grabbing hers and Darcy's things while she roused her daughter. "You need to do this. Just think of her and you'll know why you need to do it."

"Come on," Alice exclaimed brushing past them. "Let's get off this plane and get our luggage. Otherwise there will be huge line at the rental station."

By the time they had collected all their belongings and pulled up outside Bella's hotel it was nearing midnight.

"Please Bella, come home with us." Alice pouted.

"Just drop it Alice please, it's bad enough you paid for this place…" She gestured to the large building beside them. "I really don't understand what's wrong with staying at the holiday inn?"

"Don't even get me started!" She shook her head.

Bella's door was pulled open by the concierge. "Welcome to the Royal Garden Hotel madam." He smiled reaching a hand to help her out while Jasper jumped out and unloaded her bags from the trunk and handed them to him.

"Don't forget," Alice leaned across the driver seat and shouted through the window. "Dinner tomorrow at Hibiscus, I told mom that you'll be there."

"What about Darcy?" Bella frowned as she cradled her daughter on her hip.

"I know you want to wait until Edward knows." She nodded. "I've spoken to friend at school who opened her own business; she's sending me her best sitter for the evening. It's all taken care of."

"Okay." Bella nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

Bella was in front of the bathroom mirror with Darcy stood on a chair next to her as she finished putting on her make up and straightened the bow at the front of her blue knee length dress. A quick knock at the door had her pulling her daughter down and darting quickly into the main suite to answer it, finding a small dark haired woman with glasses smiling back at her.

"Hi I'm Angela, I'm from Little Angels." She held her hand out to Bella "I'll be your sitter for the evening."

"Hi Angela, please come in, I'm Bella" Bella stepped aside to let the girl in as Darcy came running into the room. "Sweetie this is Angela, she's going to be looking after you for a few hours while momma goes to see Alice. Angela this is Darcy."

"Hello Darcy, it's very nice to meet you." Angela smiled and shook the little girl's hand. "I bet we're going to have a lot of fun tonight. Do you like Barbie dolls?"

Darcy nodded her head emphatically and squealed when Angela produced a doll from a large bag.

Bella pulled on her shoes and wobbled across the room to grab a cardigan and her bag. "I shouldn't be to long but if you need me I'll be at Hibiscus these are the contact details," she handed her a small piece of paper with number scrawled across it. "I'll be with the Cullen party and if you can't get me ask for Alice or Jasper."

"Will do." Angela nodded.

"Okay good," Bella breathed and walked to Darcy, pulling her into a hug. "You be good, not to many sweets and do as Angela tells you."

"Yes momma." She said, immediately turning her attention back to the dolls.

Bella waved her goodbyes and headed down to the lobby. Her stomach twisted into knots as she waited for a cab and began to journey to the restaurant, the leather of her purse squeaking and groaning as she twisted it in her sweaty hands. The closer she got the bigger the knots became.

"Bella!" A woman's voice called from behind her as she stumbled from the car, and she turned just in time to see Esme's face before she enveloped her into a vice like hug.

She returned the hug gingerly, glancing over her shoulder to find Carlisle smiling as he walked towards them.

"Oh it so wonderful to see you!" Esme exclaimed. "I can't believe it's been so long, let me look at you?" She said pulling back and looking her over.

"Still as beautiful as ever." Carlisle smiled, walking up behind his wife and squeezing her shoulders. "Shall we step inside? Alice has our table."

Both women nodded and Bella followed silently behind Esme and Carlisle as they walked through the main dining room of the restaurant and into a private area finding Alice and Jasper already sat around the large round table.

"You know Alice; I almost didn't believe you when you said Bella was coming with you." Esme chuckled as she kissed her daughter in greeting. "But what I don't understand is why you didn't bring her to the house?"

"Oh really it's fine Esme, I'm a really bad sleeper and I can be up most of the night," Bella lied "I don't want to intrude."

"Nonsense!" She exclaimed. "The house is big enough to get lost in; you'd never wake us up or be an intrusion. I absolutely insist that you come to the house."

Bella glanced nervously at Alice, silently willing her to help.

"Well actually, "Alice twisted a piece of her hair. "Bella didn't come alone."

Bella balked at Alice, and Jasper grabbed her shoulder as she continued. "She brought a, uh, friend with her." She finished quietly.

Esme turned to Bella, her eyebrow cocked. "You should have brought your…friend along! We wouldn't have minded and there's plenty of room here."

"Oh, no it's…" Bella began shaking her head but Alice cut her off.

"I'm not so sure about that mom." She said nodding in the direction of the door and Bella's stomach flipped and then bottomed out at the sight of Edward, dressed in a dark grey suit and a black dress shirt that was unbuttoned at the neck, being followed in to the dining room by a tall redhead who gripped his hand greedily.

"Hey mom." He smiled leaning down to kiss her cheek and reaching over to shake his father's hand. His eye's skirted around the table and Alice jumped up to greet him before they could find Bella, and she breathed at the temporary reprieve…Which didn't last.

"Edward, look who Alice found back in Phoenix!" Esme practically squealed and pointed towards her, and in the one second it took for him to look at her, Bella saw a flurry of emotions on his face but most prominently, anger. "She convinced her to come visit with us, isn't it wonderful?"

Gone was the warmth that she had seen the last time they were together, replaced instead by a cold glared that pierced her as he pulled out a chair for his companion before seating himself.

"Yeah, wonderful." He said stiffly, nodding at her. "Bella."

"Hello Edward." Bella forced a little smile, grateful when the waiter came back with a bottle of wine and half filled the glass in front of her, and she hurriedly brought it to her lips.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" The redhead smiled, and placed a hand possessively on his forearm as she glanced between the two.

"This is Isabella Swan, she was one of Alice's little high school friends when we lived back in Forks." He explained dryly. "Bella this is my girlfriend, Tanya Denali."

"It's nice to meet you Tanya." Bella nodded politely and Tanya grinned back.

Alice stretched across the table and held her hand out. "Apparently my brother has forgotten his manners." She scowled. "I'm Alice, his little sister and this is my fiancé Jasper."

"Oh! Edward has told me so much about you." She gushed. "Is it true you're starting your own fashion line? I think that's brilliant, I'd love to see it!"

"Well I can honestly say that Edward hasn't told me much about you at all." Alice said raising her eyebrows.

"Well maybe if you called once in a while, you'd know more?" He said softly, twisting his glass in his hand.

"I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other." Tanya smiled.

"How long have you been together?" Alice asked and Tanya bounced in her seat.

"We just celebrated our three month anniversary." She exclaimed excitedly.

"There's no such thing as a three month anniversary," Alice stated, "Anniversary by definition is the celebration of an event that occurred on the same date the past year, I mean we left Forks on the tenth of August two thousand and four so this year would have been the sixth anniversary of us leaving. Right Edward?"

Edward's eye's flicked between Alice and Bella, and her heart thumped against her chest at the darkness that suddenly clouded them.

"Is everyone ready to order?" The waiter popped up behind Carlisle and everyone grabbed their forgotten menus and rattled off their orders before falling into an uncomfortable silence that carried on through the rest of the meal.

"Well…" Esme sighed, and pushed a smile on her face as she set her coffee cup down. "It's been nice having the whole family back together again."

"It's been lovely Esme," Bella reached across the table and squeezed her hand "Thank you for including me tonight."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Esme squeezed back.

"Speaking of family." Edward stood abruptly and his chair scrapped back on the hardwood floor. He dropped down onto his knee in front of Tanya and a series of gasps rang out around the table. "I know we haven't been together for very long and to some this may seem rushed, but I can't help how right this feels. I once thought I knew what love was," His eyes flicked quickly to Bella's "but I was wrong. I had no idea what true love was until I met you. Will you marry me?"

Tanya squealed and hurled herself at him. "Yes, yes, yes!" She exclaimed holding her left hand out to him, waiting for a ring. Instead Edward grabbed her hand and smiled as he stood, pulling her with him.

"I could've picked a ring, but I would've worried that it would never be what you deserved." He pressed his lips to hers and Bella's stomach clenched. "I'll take you anywhere you want to pick the perfect one and if we can't find it I'll get it custom made."

Tanya bounced on her heels and threw her arms around his neck.

"Smooth." Jasper mumbled into his glass and Edward shot him a look.

"Well that kinda makes my life a little harder." Bella whispered to Alice who shrugged.

"Totally didn't see _that_ one coming." She snorted, folding her arms across her chest. "At all!"

Bella cleared her throat and stood from her chair. She smoothed her dress and lifted her glass as everyone turned to her and she forced a watery smile on to her face. "May I be the first one to congratulate you, may you have a long and happy life together."

Everyone mumbled in agreement as the waiter came back into the room.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but is there a Miss Swan here?" He asked and Bella turned to him.

"That's me, I'm Bella Swan." She said softly.

"You have a phone call at the front desk, a Miss Angela Webber." He stated. "There's been and accident and it's rather urgent.

Bella's face drained of all colour and her glass shattered on the floor as she ran from the room with Alice hot on her heals.

Jasper moved to leave his seat and Esme grabbed his arm, a worried look on her face. "What's going on?"

He sighed and shook his head. "I can't Esme, it's not my place. You need to talk to Bella." And he darted from his seat into the main restaurant just in time to see the girls running out the main entrance.

"Bella what's going on?" Alice exclaimed, grabbing Bella's wrist.

"It's Darcy," She twisted her fingers anxiously. "They were playing hide and go seek and she tried to climb into the tub to hide behind the shower curtain and she fell and hit her head. She's at the hospital I need to get to her, where is the damn taxi!" Her eye's welled with tears and her chest heaved.

"What's going on? Is your friend okay?" Esme asked as she ran up behind them.

"No mom," Alice shook her head as Jasper pulled Bella to him, rubbing his hands up and down her arms to try and sooth her. "It's not her friend, it's her daughter. She's had an accident."

"Oh my!" Esme blanched. She turned and pushed against Carlisle. "Get the car; we need to get to the hospital."

"Mom, where are you going?" Edward asked as he finally emerged from the restaurant.

"Not now Edward." She said quickly as Carlisle pulled up in the car. She pulled the handle and pushed Bella towards it.

"I'm sorry," Bella turned to Edward with fat tears rolling down her face. "I'm sorry Edward."

* * *

Bella's heels clicked as she ran across the reception of Accident and Emergency towards the children's ward.

She burst through the door and looked around spotting Angela as she jumped up from her seat next to Darcy's bed and began apologizing frantically.

"I'm so sorry Bella, she wanted to play, I had my eye's closed for five seconds and she just fell." her eye's welled. "I'm so sorry!"

Bella looked past her towards the bed, where Darcy sat, playing with the doll that Angela had brought to the hotel earlier and she let out a shuddering breath as she stepped long side her.

"Momma look, I got a boo boo!" The girl grinned, pointing to the bandage taped above her eyebrow and Bella could see dried blood in her hair and some spots on her face.

"I know and you've been so brave!" Bella forced a smile and fought back the tears as she pulled her daughter to her chest. "You worried me so much! Don't you ever do that again!"

"I'm sorry momma." Darcy frowned.

"You're her mother?" A doctor asked from behind them and Bella turned and nodded.

"Bella Swan." She shook his hand and eyes the X-ray film in his hand. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm Doctor Baxter, I've been treating your daughter. We took some lovely pictures of her head." He smiled at the little girl who giggled as he stepped into the room and switched on the light board. " She has a cut about two centimetres long above her left eyebrow from where she hit the edge of the bath, which required gluing. Head injuries tend to bleed a hell of a lot which makes them look a lot nastier than they actually are and the X-rays were just a precaution." The doctor placed the film in front of the light and pointed out that there were no brakes of fractures.

"She has a mild concussion and will probably have a bit of headache, so I'd like to keep her in overnight just to be sure and keep her comfortable." He explained and Bella nodded.

"Can she be released under the care of another doctor?" Alice piped up from behind them.

"And you are?" The doctor frowned.

"I'm Alice Cullen, Darcy's Aunt." She came closer. "My father is a Doctor at the Royal Marsden Hospital."

"If he is willing to undertake her care than I see no reason not too." The Doctor Baxter shrugged. " Is he here?"

Alice nodded and ran back out into the reception, returning moments later with Carlisle and Esme behind her.

Carlisle stepped forward and shook the Doctors hand as he began explaining Darcy's care but Bella heard nothing except the gasp that came from Esme when she looked down at the little girl.

"Oh Bella!" She whispered and Bella forced herself to look up at Esme's broken face. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I'm sorry, Esme." Bella mumbled and Darcy squeezed her hand.

"Momma, why's the lady crying?" She tried to whisper and Esme chuckled through her tears.

"Oh sweetie, I'm crying because I'm happy that you're okay." Esme stood next to Bella. "I'm Esme, what's your name?"

"I'm Darcy!" She chirped. "You have hair the same colour as mine and my Daddy's, I've seen him in a picture. Do you want to see it?"

"I'd love too." Esme reached out and smoothed her hair as Darcy delved under her covers and pulled out the pictures of Edward and Alice.

"This one is Alice and my Momma," She held it up. "Alice is my auntie and Jasper is her fina…fia…they're getting married so he said I can call him Uncle Jazz." Esme out right laughed and shook her head.

Darcy held up the other photo. "And this is my Daddy, Edward. See? We have the same hair!" She exclaimed.

Esme gently touched her cheek and smiled. "You have his eyes too. You're a very pretty little girl." She turned to Bella. "Are you going to tell him?"

"It's why I'm here, Esme." She nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I apologize for the length of this chapter, it's a little shorter than the previous and if I'm honest I'm not completely happy with it.**

* * *

Bella sighed and pushed herself up from the bed, careful not to disturb the now sleeping Darcy. Making sure that she was covered and her blue bear was tucked safely under her arm she tiptoed across the room and out the door.

The doctor had released Darcy with strict instruction's to check on her every two hours while she was sleeping for the next two nights, and that if anything looked slightly wrong she was to go straight back to the hospital. Bella had managed to convince Carlisle and Esme that she was in a fit enough state to do the checks and reassured them that she would wake them up if she was worried. She fully intended to sleep in between, but although physically exhausted her brain wouldn't switch off and she kept replaying the entire night in her head.

She wrapped her arms around herself, wishing the pajama set that Alice had loaned her was more than a thin cotton vest and matching lounge pants as she descended the stairs, her feet chilled against the painted wood steps and she winced as they creaked.

Bella fumbled her way through the dark house, finally finding the kitchen and switching on the small light on the cooker hood, casting a soft yellow light around the kitchen. She filled the kettle and flicked it on as she busied herself with finding tea.

"What are you doing here Bella?" A voice came from the darkness and she yelped, dropping the box of tea to the floor.

"Shit! Edward you scared me." She exclaimed with her hand over her heart and blew out a long breath to calm herself down as Edward placed a whiskey filled glass on the breakfast bar and slipped on to a stool. "I'm making tea; I'm guessing you don't want any?"

"You know that's not what I meant." He said, the ice in his glass clinked as he sipped at the amber liquid. "Why are you here in my mother's kitchen playing happy families again?"

Bella dropped to her knees, picking up the little bags and throwing them back in the box. "I'm here because I was invited, Edward. I realize that…ignoring everyone like I did was wrong, but I can't change what I did, I can only try to make it right."

"So you think you can just waltz back in, and everyone will just fall in love with you all over again?" He growled, staring up at her through his lashes. "It doesn't work like that, life isn't that easy."

She scoffed, "Oh believe me! I know it's not and no, I don't expect everyone to fall in love with me again, but I'd like to think that they still care for me. If I didn't then I wouldn't be here!"

"Six years Bella!" He slammed the glass against the marble top, sending it's contents splashing over the sides. "Six god damn years, without so much as a courtesy call and here you are out of the blue. Do you have any idea how much you hurt Alice? You were her best friend and you ignored her, you cut her out and you didn't tell her why! I thought she meant more to you than that…that we meant more to you than that?"

"You have no idea what was going on!" Bella yelled, slapping her hand down in frustration.

"Well then tell me!" Edward stood abruptly, his stool scraping back against the black slate floor and his jaw tense with anger.

"Momma, my head hurts." Bella's breath caught in her throat as she ran back towards the steps, finding her daughter standing at the top, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and her bear hanging pathetically from her hand.

"Go back to bed baby." She said, forcing a smile. "I'll bring you up some medicine."

Darcy nodded and turned back towards the room and Bella all but stumbled back into the kitchen, all to aware of Edwards eyes on her back as she reached into the fridge for her prescription.

"You have a kid?" He raised an eyebrow at the back of her nodding head. "She why you ran out earlier?"

"Yeah, she…" Bella turned towards him but kept her head bowed, unable to look at his face. "She fell while she was playing."

"You want me to take a look at her?" Edward asked.

"No!" her eye's widened, flicking to his quickly. "No, the doctor at the hospital said it's just concussion and Carlisle checked her over before bed."

He nodded, opening and closing his mouth a few times, before clearing his throat. "Who…Is…"

"Not right now Edward." She pleaded softly. "I swear that I will talk to you, I will answer any questions you have, but please, not now?"

Edward frowned. "Fine."

"Goodnight." Bella said quickly, almost running from the kitchen and up the stairs. She entered the bedroom, and found Darcy already back to sleep, curled in the middle of the bed.

She sighed, placing the bottle of pink liquid on the nightstand and slipped onto the bed behind the bundle of sheets that held her daughter. Her fingers brushed over her flushed cheek and gently threaded into her hair, causing the little girl to sigh and burrow further into the pillow.

Movement by the door drew her eye and she let out a small gasp at the sight of Edward, gripping the door frame, his eyes trained directly on Darcy.

"Edw…" Was all she managed to get out before his glassy eyes met hers.

"She looks just like you." He said softly and turned away back into the darkness of the hallway.

* * *

The next morning Bella woke with a start after no more than a few hours of fitful sleep to find herself alone in the bed. "Darcy?"

"She's in the kitchen with mom." Alice appeared at the door with a cup in her hand. "I walked passed about an hour ago and she was just waking up so I took her down stairs with me."

"You didn't need to do that Alice, I would have gotten up with her." Bella sighed as she offered the cup and the warm aroma of coffee filled her nose.

"I know I didn't but…You were up late." Alice shuffled. "I heard you last night, in the kitchen. With Edward."

"Oh." Bella mumbled, staring down into the cup.

"Why didn't you tell him?" She asked.

"I'm not entirely sure I have to!" Bella pursed her lips. "How much did you hear?"

"Up until he yelled at you." She shrugged. "Then Jasper made me come away from the door. Sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"He knows about her." Bella stated and Alice's head shot up. "Just after all the…yelling, she came to the top of the stairs and called for me. He knows she exists and he's not stupid."

"What do you mean?" Alice frowned.

"He came upstairs, stood in the doorway." Bella looked back into the cup. "The way he was looking at her, it just…I think he was definitely wondering."

"That's half the battle though, right?" Alice exclaimed. "I mean he knows about her you just have to fill in the blanks, it'll be easy!"

"Easy?" Bella balked. "Tell me, when was the last time you told someone you'd been hiding a child from them for over five years?

"I'm not selfish enough to keep a secret like that in the first place!" She hissed.

"The truth is, you have no idea what you would have done, because you've never been in this situation, you're not me!" Bella stood from the bed. "I wasn't selfish, I was scared!"

"Ladies." The both whipped round to find Esme looking at them from the door. "Let me start by saying we can hear your conversation quite clearly in the kitchen and Darcy is beginning to wonder what's going on. Alice," She turned to her daughter. "Stop pushing Bella into telling Edward, it's her decision to make, not yours."

Bella swallowed when Esme turned to her. "I, in no way, agree with what you did but I understand why you did it. I'm hurt that someone I consider a daughter would feel that she couldn't confide in us, especially when it involved something as special as that little girl down there…My grandchild. I can't begin to describe how it feels, knowing that I've already missed so much with her but I'm willing to bet it's only a fraction of What Edward will feel."

"Esme, I'm so sorry, I…" Bella started, her eye's filling with tears, but she held her hand up to stop her.

"What's done is done Bella, I see no use in dwelling in the past when the future is sitting downstairs!" Esme exclaimed pointing down the hall. "And just so you know, it appears Edward decided to stay over last night, I saw him going into the bathroom about ten minutes ago so I'd say you don't have very long before he wonders into that kitchen and sees her."

Bella stiffened. "Which…where's his room?"

"End of the hall on the left." Esme replied. "Would it be okay if we took Darcy out for a couple of hours? We'll take the car and I'll make sure Carlisle keeps a close eye on her, plus it will give you some space."

Bella nodded and shuffled her feet. "Sure, just…call me if you need anything?"

Esme smiled and squeezed her arm, before walking back towards the stairs. Her heels clunking on the wood.

"Bella," Alice edged. "I'm sorry…about what I said, I didn't mean it I…"

"Yes you did." Bella cut her off and turned towards the bed finding her discarded cardigan from the night before and pulling it on. "You were right, I was selfish. I denied a lot of people the chance to see her because I was scared, when all is should've been thinking about was what was best for her." She grabbed her purse from the dresser and riffled through it until she found her wallet. "Wish me luck!"

She padded bare foot down the hall, her arms wrapped defensively around her stomach and her wallet clutched tight in her hand.

A shuddering breath escaped her lips as she raised her fist to knock against the door only to have it fly open and Edward almost knock her over.

"Shit, sorry!" He exclaimed holding her waist to stop her from falling.

Bella pulled from his grip, nervously pushing her hair behind her ear as she flushed uncontrollably. "I was just…I wondered if you wanted to talk?" She stammered.

"Uh, yeah sure. You wanna…" He gestured towards the stairs but she shook her head and pushed past him into his room. "Okay."

He turned to find Bella perched on the end of his unmade bed, twisting something between her fingers. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Darcy." She stated simply and Edward frowned. "My daughter."

"Mind if I join you?" He asked, sitting at the head of the bed facing her when she shook her head. "So…what about her?"

"You really think she looks like me?" She turned head towards him and he shrugged stiffly. "I rarely get told that, usually I get comments on how much she must take after her father and it's true, every single day I see more and more of him in her. Her attitude though? That's all mine!"

"Just say it Bella." He said through clenched teeth and Bella squeezed her eyes closed before unfastening her wallet and pulling out a small photograph, placing it on the bed in front of him.

"She was born May twenty -eighth, two thousand five, eleven days overdue at five thirty two A.M. Eight pounds five ounces and forty eight centimeters long." Edward slowly picked up the picture of a tiny baby with a scrunched up face, buried inside a thick pink blanket. "Darcy Alice Cullen. Your daughter."

"Are you sure? I mean, I know you and Jacob Black were…" He started and Bella rolled her eyes and handed him a more recent picture.

"Do you see any Native American in her Edward? Because I don't, she's about a pale faced as possible without being see through, besides Jake and I were always careful and if you really must know I had a period after we broke up. The only other person I had sex with was you." She explained. "I swear to you."

"Why didn't you tell me? I would've come back." He asked, a pained expression on his face.

"For exactly that reason!" She chuckled dryly. "I found out about two months after you'd left and I figured that it would be better, that you would be better off if I didn't tell you."

"I deserved a chance, Bella!" Edward's voice cracked, and the photographs crinkled in hid grip. "Is she still here?"

Bella shrugged, swallowing down the lump in her throat. "I don't know. You're mom asked to take her out about ten minutes ago."

Edwards sprang from the bed and glanced out the window. "Car's still here." He ran for the door, pulling it so hard it banged against the wall as he barreled through it and sped down to the kitchen.

Bella hurried after him, almost running straight into him as he stood in the kitchen doorway staring at the little girl perched at the breakfast nook as Esme tied her shoe.

Edwards shoulders shook, and a low sob had his mother turning towards him wide eyed.

Her eye's flicked between her son and Bella, who sniffed and nodded. "Edward?"

At the sound of his name Darcy span in her seat to see where Esme was looking and a shy smile appeared on her face.

She slipped of the stool and ran towards him, completely passing him to hide behind Bella's. She scooped the little girl up and put her on her hip and her head automatically leaned against her mothers shoulder as she watched Edward watch her with fat tears falling on to his face.

"Are you hurt?" A little voice whispered.

"No," Edward shook his head "not really."

"Then why are you crying?" Darcy lifted he head from Bella's shoulder and look straight at him. She glanced down at the bear she gripped in her hand and then held it out towards him. "Here, you can have my booboo bear, he makes everything better."

A watery smile spread over his face as he took the bear from her hand. "Thank you, I promise to take good care of him."

Darcy put her lips against her mother's ear and whispered and Bella giggled and nodded. "You look different to the picture." She stated with a little frown before reaching forward and rubbing her small hand along the stubble on Edwards jaw. "You have a beard!"

Edward chuckled, brought his own hand to his face and scratched at the short hairs. "I guess I do need to shave! It's nice to meet you Darcy."

"It's nice to meet you too daddy."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Again, it's been a while since I updated this story and I apologize. Reviews are appreciated, hope you like it!**

* * *

"So she knows who I am?" Edward asked as he walked along side Bella, a paper coffee cup gripped in his hand.

"She didn't." Bella sighed. "I never intentionally hid you from her, you're named on her birth certificate and I was always planning on telling her whatever she wanted to know, but until fairly recently she never asked so I never told her."

"She asked about me?" He squinted at the sunlight as he turned his head toward her and she nodded.

"Jasper is her kindergarten teacher. He had them draw family portraits on the first day and another little girl pointed out, in a round about way, that there was only the two of us in the picture. Darcy got upset about it so when we got home I found the pictures we took that last summer and showed her." She shrugged. "She wanted to know everything about you, I had to answer so many questions…I still am answering her questions. A few weeks later I was in the classroom talking to Jasper and Alice strolled in, once she figured out who Darcy was it didn't take her long to fit you into the equation, she convinced me to tell you, dragged me here and the rest, as they say, is history."

Edward stopped and watched the little girl running off in front of them, her auburn hair flailing behind her as she barreled through a large group of birds and giggled as they scattered around her.

"I don't get it Bella!" He scrubbed his hand over his face. "Please tell me what I did that made you decide not to tell me that you were pregnant? Was I really that horrible to you?"

"No. I honestly don't know anymore, Edward." She stopped next to him, running her fingers through her hair. "At the time I was scared, I mean who wouldn't be right? Maybe I thought I was doing you a favor, or it was self preservation? More recently I'm thinking I was just selfish."

"Maybe a little bit of everything?" He offered and she smiled and nodded.

"The last thing I wanted was for you to give up everything you'd worked so hard for to take care of us." She sighed.

"But I wouldn't have had to have given it up Bella. There are plenty of places I could've gone to school back home, my parents would have gladly moved back…after the initial shock anyway, and even if they didn't it wouldn't have meant that I couldn't." He exclaimed. "You could have come here; we could have worked this out together."

"Hindsight is twenty - twenty." Bella smiled. "Would you have wanted to try and be a family? A real family? There's no guarantee we would've worked."

"I would've tried." Edward sighed, walking over to a nearby trash can and tossing in the now empty cup. "Do you not remember what I told you that last night before I took you home? I would've tried so damn hard to make it work for you Bella."

"Edward you told me you'd never love anyone like you loved me." She cocked an eyebrow. "Now, I'm pretty sure it wasn't an illusion and I certainly didn't drink that much, but didn't you just to propose to your girlfriend after professing your undying love to her…less than twenty four hours ago?"

"A lot changes in twenty four hours, doesn't it?" He scoffed.

"Yes it does." Bella nodded and followed after her daughter as she ran along side The Serpentine. "How did you meet? You and Tanya?"

"Oh, I work with her little sister. She invited me to one of her birthday parties and she was there." Edward shrugged. "We got talking…well she talked, I listened and it kinda went from there. What about you? Anyone special in your life?"

"Me?" She chuckled. "No, only her. Once most guys find out you've got a kid they don't want to know, at least that's my experience anyway."

"You live in Phoenix now?" He shoved his hands into his pockets, and kicked at the gravel.

"Yeah, I have done since I was about five months gone. Charlie decided he couldn't help me anymore and sent me back to my mom. But that's a whole other story!" She exclaimed.

"You not want to share?" He asked and she sighed.

"Edward I was a seventeen year old girl, who singled herself out after finding out she was pregnant from a one night stand with her bests friends brother, who just so happened to live on the other side of the world!" She rolled her eyes. "I freaked out a little, and my dad thought it would be better if I had my mom to help seeing as she'd done it all with me."

"Did it?" Edward frowned. "Help, I mean?"

"It did for a while." Bella nodded. "But then I found out that when I'd moved back, they were in escrow on the house and had to pull out of the sale because of me, and then I just felt plain old guilt. About three years ago Phil got offered a high school coaching job in San Diego and I managed to convince my mom that I would be fine. They make the drive to phoenix every other weekend, Darcy loves it, and she can't get enough of them."

"What about the Chief, how's he doing?" Edward edged. "Does he know that….I…?"

"He knows you're her father. I really didn't have a choice after he decided he was going up to La Push to castrate Jake with his twelve gauge shotgun!" Bella giggled. "It's a good thing you lived over four thousand miles away, believe me!"

"I don't doubt that for a second!" He chuckled nervously, his attention caught by Darcy rushing towards them.

"Momma, I found Peter Pan! Come look." The little girl grabbed hold of her mothers hand and tried to drag her along the path.

"Darcy, sweetie, Peter Pan lives in story books he's not in the park!" Bella exclaimed.

"Uh, actually she's right." Edward said keeping up with them. "There's a statue of him just around this bend."

"See momma, it's Peter Pan." Darcy exclaimed. "I didn't know Never Land was in London!"

Edward let out a hearty laugh and knelt down next to Darcy. "This isn't Never Land, that's still a really long way away."

"Second star to the right and straight on until morning." Darcy recited confidently and he chuckled again.

"Exactly," he nodded. "But this is where Peter Pan first lived before he flew away to Never Land Island."

"Really!" She asked her eyes wide. "Right here?"

"His home was over there." Edward pointed randomly across the park. "And right here, where this statue is, is where he found the fairies that taught him to fly."

"Do you think the fairies are still here?" Her eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "Maybe they could teach me!"

"Well sweetie," Bella said carding her fingers through her daughter's hair. "I think they only show themselves to people who really need them. Like Peter Pan."

"Oh." Darcy scrunched up her nose and pouted. "Okay."

And with that she turned and skipped away, intent on climbing up the base of the statue, using the bronze rabbits and mice as foot hold.

"Why is everything so much easier when you're five?" Edward frowned, standing up and brushing off the knees of his jeans and Bella just shrugged.

"Are you going to tell Tanya?" Bella asked suddenly and he stared, slightly taken aback.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" He questioned.

"Well does she know about what happened between us?" She cocked an eyebrow and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

"Well no, she doesn't but…" He started.

"It's gonna be a shock for her! The man she's planning to marry suddenly tells her he has a child, with a woman she's been to dinner with no less." She exclaimed.

"Bella, I'm still in shock!" Edward half yelled. "I'm trying really hard to see things from your point of view, I get that it wasn't easy for you but on the other hand I've just found out about my own child and it's a lot to take in okay?" He sighed.

"I'm sorry Edward." She said softly.

"I will tell her, I kinda don't have a choice if I'm going to marry her but it will be when I'm ready. I've got five years to make up for with her."

"No," Bella tentatively reached out and squeezed his arm. "I have five years to make up to you."

"When are you leaving?" He pursed his lips.

"I have to be back at work a week tomorrow." She shrugged "I kinda planned on having a day to get over the jet lag so six days. We leave in six days.'

Edward sucked in a breath. "Wow, it's gonna be hard to cram five years into six days! I don't suppose there's any way I can convince you to stay? At least for a little while longer?"

"I don't know, Edward." Bella shook her head with a sigh. "If I don't go back to work they'll put me on unpaid leave and I need that money to make the mortgage repayments, and Darcy has to go to school, I…"

"I'm sorry Bella, I shouldn't-" Edward grabbed her arm, stopping her mid sentence. "I shouldn't have asked that of you, I'm sorry."

"No, no it's fine honestly, you have every reason to ask and you have to know that if I could stay I would but our whole lives are back there." She whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, I'll figure something out." He pushed a stiff smile on to his face. "Now why don't you tell me some more about her?"

A little while later found them back at home with Darcy passed out on the couch while they stood in the kitchen with Alice and Jasper.

"Oh my god I've never been so embarrassed in my life!" Bella exclaimed slapping her hand against her forehead while everyone laughed around her. "And that's not even the worst thing she's done!"

"I don't know?" Alice hiccupped. "Darcy shaving next door's hamster has got be a pretty hard one to top!"

"Oh believe me, it can be!" Bella nodded. "Charlie came to visit for her last birthday; he was a little uptight because he'd been hearing on the news about some abduction's in the next state over from us or whatever? Anyway he decided that seeing as he's Chief of Police, he's going to make it his mission to teach Darcy about stranger danger-spends the whole morning talking to her about it, don't talk to anyone you don't know even if they say they know you, don't take sweets, don't get in any strange cars and all that stuff.

That afternoon we took her to the local park for a picnic, she runs off to play and when we're finished Charlie leaves me to pack up while he goes to get her. He grabs her arm and she turns and starts screaming 'stranger danger! Stranger danger!' and all the other parents and kids just turn and look at them both! I don't think I've ever seen Charlie go so red and he hasn't taken her out since!"

"She's definitely got your sense of humor!" Alice cackled while Edward nodded in agreement. "Totally twisted."

"Now this I have to hear!" Jasper exclaimed with a grin, leaning forward.

"Well there was that one time when she switched out Emmett's protein shake for chocolate Ex-lax…"She recounted and Edward cut her off with a chuckle.

"Yeah or what about that time with Jacob Black and the…" He started.

"Oh god, not the frogs!" Bella whined, hiding her reddening face in her hands.

"The first summer she moved to Forks, her dad took her up to the reservation at La Push to spend the day with Rachel and Rebecca Black so that him and their dad, Billy could go fishing." Edward explained while Jasper listened with rapt attention, "Billy's son, Jake was there he'd had this thing for her since they were little I guess, and in typical boy likes girl fashion, he decided that the best way to show her how he felt was to tip a bucket load of frogspawn down her back!"

"It was disgusting!" Bella gagged and shivered.

"Anyway," Alice continued "Bell's decided that she was gonna rescue some of the eggs. She took them home and got Charlie to construct her this makeshift vivarium in the back yard, and pretty soon she had tadpoles and frog lets running around. Most of them died after a really bad frost but two survived and grew into full grown frogs."

"Not just any frogs," Edward grinned "Bullfrogs, and they were both male."

"She took one to the lake and let it go and kept the other one until she could convince her dad to take back up to the reservation. She snuck into Jake's room and hid it in one of his shoes."

"It drove him crazy!" Bella exclaimed. "It just kept screaming and no matter how hard he looked he couldn't find it, he ended up having to sleep on the couch until the noise stopped."

"Who found it?" Jasper asked his face red from laughter.

"No one." Edward said patting her on the back. "Turns out it managed to find a gap in the floorboard and squeeze itself through, that's why Jake never found it…at least not until it died and started to smell!"

"Jacob didn't dare prank her again and she felt so guilty she started to donate to a charity for endangered frogs." Alice giggled, leaning into Jaspers arms.

"I still do!" Bella cried as the group erupted with laughter again.

"What's so funny?" They all turned to find Tanya walking toward them, and Edward visibly tensed.

"Hey sweetie!" He smiled nervously, his eyes catching Bella's for a moment as he accepted her embrace. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, your mom let me in." She said gesturing towards the door. "You were going to take me shopping, remember?"

Confusion clouded Edwards face until Tanya lifted her left hand and wiggled her ring finger enthusiastically. "Oh right, of course!" He said rubbing his forehead. "Sorry love, it completely slipped my mind."

"That's okay," she smiled widely, reaching out to touch his chest "I'm sure we can find a way for you to make it up to me?"

Alice cleared her throat and Tanya giggled, finally remembering that they weren't alone. "It's Bella, isn't it?" She asked turning towards her and Bella nodded. "You left rather quick last night, I do hope everything was okay?"

"Nothing to worry about," She replied waving her off and noticing as Edward glanced nervously towards the room where Darcy was still sleeping "thank you. I'm just gonna…"

Bella turned away and walked over to Darcy, stealthily prizing her from the sofa and making her way up the stairs to their room. As she placed her on the bed, she noticed that her bag had been brought in and placed against the wall.

"I had Jasper get your things from the hotel while you were out." Alice piped up from the doorway. "Why did you come and hide up here?"

"I'm trying to make this a little easier on your brother." Bella shrugged walking out of the room and pulling the door closed behind her. "He needs time to get used to the idea himself before he tells Tanya."

"Did you guy's talk?" Alice winced as she nodded. "And?"

"I don't think he's entirely forgiven me." She sank down on the top step with Alice next to her. "Not that I blame him! You were right earlier when you said I was being selfish, and if I was in Edward's place, I don't think I would be anywhere near as calm as he's been about the whole thing."

"I told you he would be okay, didn't I?" Alice smiled, rubbing her friends back. "I know Edward; he's just working things over in his head."

"I know it's just that," Bella shook her head and sighed "part of me was expecting him to get angry with me, to deny it and demand a DNA test, but he's done none of that- he's just taken my word for it and been entirely pleasant about the whole thing."

"Anyone would have to be a fool to question who her father is," Alice scoffed "I only had to take one look at her to see she was Eddie's and so did mom- it's the eyes. Do you want him to be angry with you?"

"No. Yes- oh I don't know!" Her face fell into her hands. "This whole thing seems too easy; I know something's going to happen I can feel it here." She clutched a hand to her chest. "I just want him to blow up at me so that I can get it over with and deal with whatever it is that he throws at me."

"Bella?" Alice asked softly. "Did you ever love my brother?"

"Of course I did Alice; I still love _both_ of you." She exclaimed.

"No I know that, I meant were you ever _in _love with him?" She clarified and Bella's eyes widened.

"I don't know, I-" she trailed off, lost in thought. "He made me nervous and fluttery; my heart would feel like it was beating out of my chest whenever I saw him, I…"

"Are you still in love with him?" Alice pressed and Bella shook her head.

"No," as she said it her chest ached "I think I'll always have a special place for him- he gave me Darcy and I don't think I could ever tell him how much I love him for that, but it's not the same. It's not what he has with Tanya."

"Oh please!" Alice exclaimed. "That woman knows a fat wallet when she sees one and Edward was going through a dry spell. There about as in love oil and water- you can put them both together but they'll split up soon enough!"

"Alice!" Bella blanched. "He's marrying the woman!"

"He's not that stupid." Alice said pulling herself up and walking down the stairs.


End file.
